As we chat, it becomes clear that Turkle is not just not boring-she's an exceptionally skilled conversationalist. After tea, we take a walk around her Back Bay neighborhood. Throughout our conversation, she occasionally touches my forearm. She speaks deliberately, pausing often. She laughs easily and heartily, a sign more of her warmth than of my wit. She has at her disposal what the best conversationalists have: a wealth of experience to draw from.

Do they even teach kids to write in cursive anymore? Also on one hand I feel left out from all the people sitting and clicking on their phones constantly but on the other I'm glad I'm not a phone zombie.

Alot of them should have been in addition to Steve Frost. Tony Slattery, Paul Merton, Josie Lawrence (much more often than two episodes), Steven Fry, and Mike McShane (shocked that Mike didn't go on the US version of whose line, but I guess that was to honor his friend Tony who got blacklisted due to his mental problems :( )

A Terrible Human:Do they even teach kids to write in cursive anymore? Also on one hand I feel left out from all the people sitting and clicking on their phones constantly but on the other I'm glad I'm not a phone zombie.

Cursive was big back in the 50's. I can remember setting in school with one hand above the desk and the other hand down below.

Alot of them should have been in addition to Steve Frost. Tony Slattery, Paul Merton, Josie Lawrence (much more often than two episodes), Steven Fry, and Mike McShane (shocked that Mike didn't go on the US version of whose line, but I guess that was to honor his friend Tony who got blacklisted due to his mental problems :( )

Wait Tony Slattery was blacklisted to due mental illness? That's pretty farking shiatty cause he was hilarious./Watched both version of Whose Line but still haven't caught up with the new episodes cause I don't have CW.

Families don't always converse because at some point you are just rehashing old conversation.

I don't keep up with sports, my parents don't care about video games, I don't care to gossip about family, and damn near everything else is political.

I've had enough discussions where some bigot turns a discussion about damn near anything into an excuse to say gay marriage is wrong for.. um.. reasons.

Worse, I find the average person sorely lacking in logical consistency. So I wind up saying 'well you just said x earlier and now you contradict yourself..' and if they are bright enough to comprehend the disparity they will claim they never said the first part.

I can speak just fine, I simply have no interest in the self-absorbed blathering, gossip, sports, or politics that encompasses 90% of what most people I meet irl have to say.

That leaves tv I guess, but I tend to watch shows only after a season completes, so no I don't want to know what the governor is up to or who kills geoffrey (sp? /shrug).

It isn't ability to gab thats the problem, it is the complete lack of shared knowledge and interests.

Smackledorfer:Worse, I find the average person sorely lacking in logical consistency. So I wind up saying 'well you just said x earlier and now you contradict yourself..' and if they are bright enough to comprehend the disparity they will claim they never said the first part.

that sad feeling you get when you realize you can't win an argument using 'facts'

"facts are meaningless. you can use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true... facts, shmacts" - homer

Smackledorfer:I can speak just fine, I simply have no interest in the self-absorbed blathering, gossip, sports, or politics that encompasses 90% of what most people I meet irl have to say.

Families don't always converse because at some point you are just rehashing old conversation.

I don't keep up with sports, my parents don't care about video games, I don't care to gossip about family, and damn near everything else is political.

I've had enough discussions where some bigot turns a discussion about damn near anything into an excuse to say gay marriage is wrong for.. um.. reasons.

Worse, I find the average person sorely lacking in logical consistency. So I wind up saying 'well you just said x earlier and now you contradict yourself..' and if they are bright enough to comprehend the disparity they will claim they never said the first part.

I can speak just fine, I simply have no interest in the self-absorbed blathering, gossip, sports, or politics that encompasses 90% of what most people I meet irl have to say.

That leaves tv I guess, but I tend to watch shows only after a season completes, so no I don't want to know what the governor is up to or who kills geoffrey (sp? /shrug).

It isn't ability to gab thats the problem, it is the complete lack of shared knowledge and interests.

Families don't always converse because at some point you are just rehashing old conversation.

I don't keep up with sports, my parents don't care about video games, I don't care to gossip about family, and damn near everything else is political.

I've had enough discussions where some bigot turns a discussion about damn near anything into an excuse to say gay marriage is wrong for.. um.. reasons.

Worse, I find the average person sorely lacking in logical consistency. So I wind up saying 'well you just said x earlier and now you contradict yourself..' and if they are bright enough to comprehend the disparity they will claim they never said the first part.

I can speak just fine, I simply have no interest in the self-absorbed blathering, gossip, sports, or politics that encompasses 90% of what most people I meet irl have to say.

That leaves tv I guess, but I tend to watch shows only after a season completes, so no I don't want to know what the governor is up to or who kills geoffrey (sp? /shrug).

It isn't ability to gab thats the problem, it is the complete lack of shared knowledge and interests.

Ymmv.

/grumpy today

You do realize that you just brought up several interesting conversational topics. For instance, you could tell a few amusing anecdotes about the racist family members and the crazy stuff they say. You could talk about the trend of "binging" on previous seasons of popular-now television shows.

divgradcurl:Smackledorfer: Worse, I find the average person sorely lacking in logical consistency. So I wind up saying 'well you just said x earlier and now you contradict yourself..' and if they are bright enough to comprehend the disparity they will claim they never said the first part.

that sad feeling you get when you realize you can't win an argument using 'facts'

"facts are meaningless. you can use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true... facts, shmacts" - homer

divgradcurl:Smackledorfer: Worse, I find the average person sorely lacking in logical consistency. So I wind up saying 'well you just said x earlier and now you contradict yourself..' and if they are bright enough to comprehend the disparity they will claim they never said the first part.

that sad feeling you get when you realize you can't win an argument using 'facts'

"facts are meaningless. you can use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true... facts, shmacts" - homer

Smackledorfer: I can speak just fine, I simply have no interest in the self-absorbed blathering, gossip, sports, or politics that encompasses 90% of what most people I meet irl have to say.

so why exactly do you hang around on fark? :P

Chronic insomnia and a job where I am alone for ten hours a day but have massive downtime.

Families don't always converse because at some point you are just rehashing old conversation.

I don't keep up with sports, my parents don't care about video games, I don't care to gossip about family, and damn near everything else is political.

I've had enough discussions where some bigot turns a discussion about damn near anything into an excuse to say gay marriage is wrong for.. um.. reasons.

Worse, I find the average person sorely lacking in logical consistency. So I wind up saying 'well you just said x earlier and now you contradict yourself..' and if they are bright enough to comprehend the disparity they will claim they never said the first part.

I can speak just fine, I simply have no interest in the self-absorbed blathering, gossip, sports, or politics that encompasses 90% of what most people I meet irl have to say.

That leaves tv I guess, but I tend to watch shows only after a season completes, so no I don't want to know what the governor is up to or who kills geoffrey (sp? /shrug).

It isn't ability to gab thats the problem, it is the complete lack of shared knowledge and interests.

Ymmv.

/grumpy today

I know, right? Can you imagine something like the Algonquin Club today? Would never happen. I agree with the premise of the article, and I also agree with you. I don't see the two points of view as contradictory. I think we are in the process of losing the art of conversation, and I think it has something to do with your point that, despite the constant "connection" between all of us due to technology, ironically, we are all so disparate in our interests that we have little or no shared knowledge anymore.

I think that contributes to how polarized our politics has become. Everyone is in separate, small silos/echo chambers where either we reject what anyone else has to say or we already know what someone is going to say because we think the same thing -- there is no sharing and no need to share.

Not that I have any idea what to do about it because I'm guilty of the same thing. Over the holidays, my daughter and son-in-law were up visiting and many times the four of us were in the same room, all of us staring at and interacting with our own screens. I was on my computer, my husband next to me on his laptop, my daughter on the floor with hers, and my son-in-law on his tablet, none of us talking to each other. Sigh.